CVE-2025-43557: Critical Vulnerability in Animate Allows Arbitrary Code Execution

Overview

In this blog post, we delve into the details of a critical vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-43557, affecting Animate versions 24.0.8, 23.0.11, and earlier. This vulnerability is particularly concerning as it allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user, potentially compromising the system or leading to data leakage. Understanding the severity of this vulnerability, its implications, and the mitigation strategies is crucial for organizations and individuals using the affected versions of Animate.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-43557
Severity: High (7.8 CVSS Severity Score)
Attack Vector: Access of Uninitialized Pointer
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Arbitrary code execution, potential system compromise, and possible data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Animate | 24.0.8 and earlier
Animate | 23.0.11 and earlier

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability CVE-2025-43557 is an Access of Uninitialized Pointer type. It exists due to improper initialization of a pointer in the affected Animate software. An attacker can craft a malicious file, which when opened by a user, can cause the software to dereference an uninitialized pointer. This could potentially lead to memory corruption, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. This can subsequently lead to unauthorized access and control over the system, or data leakage.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability could be exploited:

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int *ptr = NULL;  //Pointer is not initialized
*ptr = 2018;  //Trying to access memory location which is not allocated
printf("%d", *ptr);  //This will cause segmentation fault
return 0;
}

In this example, a pointer is declared but not initialized to any memory location. When the program tries to assign a value to the memory location pointed to by the uninitialized pointer, a segmentation fault occurs. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by causing a segmentation fault and subsequently injecting malicious code to be executed.

Mitigation Guidance

Users are advised to update to the latest version of Animate as soon as possible to rectify this vulnerability. Until the software can be updated, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could be used as a temporary mitigation strategy. Additionally, users should be cautious while opening files from untrusted sources, as exploitation of this vulnerability requires user interaction.